Garrett's Homecoming

The day has finally come!  Garrett is home after a nearly 7 month deployment to Iraq!!  WOOHOO :) . 

We got the official word early last week that Garrett would be flying in on Saturday (10th) at about 7am.  All week Kayla helped me get ready.  Cleaning out the garage, the house, shopping, and of course making some signs.

The way it works when the soldiers come home from deployment is {usually} they land on Post and have a brief 'Green Ramp' ceremony, reunite with loved ones, and then they get on a bus and go back to their Company area for a few hours to turn in all their 'sensitive' items.  In the past we {the kiddos and I} have not gone to Green Ramp because 1. Garrett has arrived at about 2 in the morning and the thought of pulling a 3yr old and 3-6mo old out of bed at that time of night seemed a bit crazy, and 2. more importantly, I knew Kayla was just not mature enough to understand and handle the fact that she would just see her daddy after months of separation and then he would leave right away again.  Melt down city and frankly I was not willing to put her through that.  But this year we were all over it.  The flight time was manageable, Kayla was old enough to understand and deal with how the morning was going to play out {after an in depth conversation the night before} and Gavin was young enough to just go with the flow.  Garrett's plane was scheduled to arrive at 7am so my plan was to get up and out of the house by 6am and be at Green Ramp at 6:30.  My good friend Adrienne {who's a fellow Army wife and our families celebrated Thanksgiving with} offered to come along and document our reunion in photos!  So we pull in at 6:30 and the nice Soldier at the gate informs us the plane has been delayed and won't be coming in until 9am.  Ahhhhhhhh!  What to do?!  It was super cold, the kiddos were SOOOOOO excited because they knew they were going to see daddy very soon and to go back home would just confuse the heck out of them so we decided to hang out at the Waffle House for some greasy diner food and mediocre coffee!       

At last!  The time came to get bundled up again, head back to Green Ramp and wait wait wait for daddy, along with all the other loved ones of the incoming soldiers!

The crowd was thickening, excitement building, and the Army Band was entertaining us with Christmas music.

I was ALL nerves when the announcement was finally made that the plane had landed and our heroes marched in!!!

A small group of friends and coworkers of Garrett's who had returned the week or two before him found us in the crowd and waited with us.  Which I was very grateful for because Eric was able to hold on to Kayla as we were standing on benches about 4ft off the ground!

He's here, he's here!!!!

Thank you Adrienne!!!  These photos are priceless!!

WHAT an experience! Our reunions have always been small and in the privacy of our own home but it was so special to finally be a part of the BIG gathering. The energy in that hanger is indescribable. The anticipation, crowds, flags, music, marching, tired but excited faces, CHEERING, tears, embracing, kissing......holding tight, never letting go.